Wenger: 'In certain areas we are a bit short'

05 December 2012 12:08

"We need a good Christmas present now, but we will see. We can get a bad draw or less strong team, but you normally get strong teams through anyway now.

"The disadvantage is we have is we play the second game away, but that is not statistically proven to be a such a disadvantage.

"Let's see, but for now it is important for us to focus on the championship, forget about the Champions League a little bit and get ourselves back in decent form in the championship."

"We left eight or nine players at home and we had a positive game. We had a good first half, but we dropped physically in the second half because many players lack competition at that level and therefore we couldn't take the chances for the second goal.

"We also got a very bad decision against us on the goal. I am not against the fifth referee, but you would like at least for them to be concentrated on their job, but that was not the case tonight, Wojciech Szczesny was far away from the ball.

"Why didn't the fifth official tell the referee? It's difficult to understand, to concede a corner when it doesn't go off the goalkeeper.

"However, I don't want to make a fuss of it, so we have to take it on the chin and go home and focus on our next game."

"Tomas has not played for six months and we were cautious with him. We decided before the game to play for 45 minutes and see how he got on. He is a bit tight, muscular, but no new injury. We will see how we recovers now for Saturday."

"I feel the young players, you discover them in these kind of competitions we had tonight. They have the quality. If everybody is fit we have a strong squad, but in certain areas we are a bit short because we cannot rotate.